Incubus: Oh my Goryness, this calls
for a celebration! I knew it was coming. Your 4th temptation was the clincher
right? It was?

Baal: (nods) How perceptive. It
indeed was.

Incubus: So now you are...

Baal: ... (cringes in delight) Commander
of the 37th dominion!

Incubus: Wow...that's a great leap!
Amazing.

Baal: Mm...I guess I've you to thank
then...

Incubus: (quiet)... erm.

Baal: Thank you for the 4th
temptation?

Incubus: Well, you inspired me
actually (pause). By the way, did you mention my small part in it?

Baal: (smirks) Now...now, your time
will come. Do not covet.

Incubus: Yes sir...yes sir...

Baal: But don't worry...I will give
you due credit when the time is right. But first, I want an update on the 4th
temptation. Is it going as planned?

Incubus: It most certainly is sir.
The world is embracing it.

Baal: The believers?

Incubus: They are lapping it up. It's
the new sermon of the mount!

Baal: Mm...(smug) Remind me again how
it works?

Incubus: Sure my Lord. As you are aware,
the 4th temptation seeks not to turn stone to bread or test him or offers worldly
riches in return for one’s worship.

Baal: ...but it seeks to distract
nevertheless?

Incubus: Yes...how wise. It is a
combination of all three temptations and more. A potent and wicked mix of
distraction I say.

Baal: So, it tells them to live on His
word and no other?

Incubus: Yes...and...

Baal: Shush...I am not done yet. It
also tells them to trust him and not test him?

Incubus: (nods excitedly)...

Baal: And to worship him?

Incubus: Yes...but the beauty of
it...(catches a glimpse of disapproval)...sorry.

Baal: ...and the beauty of it is that
all that sounds so righteous or eloquent in words but not in deeds?

Incubus: Yes, yes, the point is to
make righteousness look so good that it becomes an irresistible decoy.

Baal: So, if you can't beat him join
him?

Incubus: Well, that was the strategy
yes. But there's more about this righteousness thing.

Baal: Mm...haven't we used this before
with the Pharisees millennia ago? It's hypocrisy all over again right?

Incubus: Yes...yes...that was
hypocrisy in legalism attire and his son exposed it remember?

Baal: (squints) Ok...what's the
difference now?

Incubus: Well, the 4th
temptation is still about hypocrisy no doubt but it is one that goes to
the other extreme of legalism. It is now about letting God do everything for
the believers. Avoid the works. Ignore the laws. They are liberated from all that. It’s
the post-Calvary gospel. The ultimate new creation. That's the big difference!

Baal: So, now the creator is their
personal genie in the lamp?

Incubus: Yes...oh wise one. And
didn't his son came to die for them? Imagine that...what love would even do
that? We just need to string together a few scriptures along the lines of
asking big and they will be receiving big because their God loves them and came
to die for them. Now that's unconditional love. The focus is all about the breezy side of the faith. Nothing about hell, judgment and eternal condemnation. Then, when it's all set up, we
just sit back and watch the whole drama unravel, thread by thread...regardless
of denomination…cotton, fabric, silk.

Baal: (glees) So, the 4th temptation
is about being a modern day Pharisee but without the rules? Righteousness
without the law?

Incubus: That's a good spin to it
yes.

Baal: Mm...more like licentiousness
in righteousness.

Incubus: (nods)...yes, yes, oh
enlightened one.

Baal: Now, my concern is, will it
backfire?

Incubus: Nooo...it shouldn't. It
ought not to. The timing couldn't be more perfect. You see, they are living in
the age of the perfect storm of media-technology, consumerism and unbelievable
wealth. All thanks to Gutenberg, the industrial revolution and unregulated capitalism of course. A literal biblical laissez faire.

Baal: And...?

Incubus: Oh, sorry...and the promise
of unconditional love from an unlimited God means that they don't need to lift
a finger in their belief. The altar call repentance is all they need to
do. After that, their religion becomes a piled up promise of prosperity and
longevity.

Baal: You mean health and wealth?

Incubus: Yes. That's the bait that
hides the hook.

Baal: And what has the media and
consumerism got to do with it?

Incubus: The media works in our
favor. It helps to spread the message like a fire-belly of locusts. And
consumerism is the icing on the cake. It works to deepen greed into a bottomless pit
of insatiable desires or better still, personal entitlement. It is never enough,
never. The houses, the investment and the cars, they become indispensable to
the faith. They become symbols of the belief.

Baal: So, like the 3rd temptation, we
mess up for them the in-the-world and of-the-world bit?

Incubus: Yes...so wise my Lord. And
it's also about one stone and two falling birds. We heap up promises of worldly wealth
under the covers of righteousness as part of the carrot. So the believer gets
to think that they are worshipping their God when in fact what they are going
down on their knees for are the lures of the promises and not the one who made
those promises.

Baal: ...like going for the gift and
not the giver... (musing)

Incubus: Yes...yes precisely.

Baal: ...and it is better to be vaguely
Christ-like than to be openly Christ-less?

Incubus: Spot on my Lord! That's why
it is called the 4th temptation. And it's foolproof. Imagine it this way,
"if you bow down and worship God, all these riches will be added unto
you." Now who wouldn't buy that? The wicked twist here is that we let the
riches do all the conversion and leave the creator out of the whole faith
equation. Sooner or later, when tough times come, most will give up the faith
because suffering for them was never part of the bargain.

Baal: But some will still hold on and
seek the giver right?

Incubus: Yes...that's a small price
to pay. But most of them, that is, those blinded by covetousness, those whose
faith are predicated on the promises of material wealth, will fall by the
wayside. And trust me, when that day comes, many will fall. The net
result is definitely rigged in our favor.

Baal: Very well. You have done good.
Be sure to remind me the next time I see him to tell him about your contribution
to the 4th temptation.